Teslacam - dash cam with a usb drive that has wifi capabilities

[DCEV]

Followup report.

On Sunday evening, I paused dashcam with a long press, flipped the Verbatim device into WiFi mode and confirmed that it had attached to my local network, and launched a robocopy command line to move all the files. It took a few hours to move about 30GB from the device, over the wifi, to a local drive. IIRC, it completed in the first pass; it was on car power for a while, then on self-contained power, then eventually, sometime after the copy completed, the self-contained power ran out.

I was also able to reach the music partition and add some content while it was wifi attached.

Monday morning, I flipped the switch back to USB mode and resumed dashcam with a long press.

The robocopy job remained running and just circled on errors that it was unable to reach the source.

On Tuesday evening, I paused dashcam with a long press and flipped the Verbatim device into WiFi mode. After about a minute, it reattached to the network; after a couple more minutes the robocopy job tried again, found the device, and again moved all the files -- in this case, it was about 11GB (3.6 in RecentFiles; 7.4 in ten Sentry captures).

Wednesday morning, I flipped the switch back to USB mode and resumed dashcam with a long press.

Net: Highly successful.

Possible enhancements:
- don't bother capturing RecentClips.
- move older files, but only copy the most recent files, so that the most recent remain on the stick for a while.
- automatically sync music files to the other partition when attached.



RecentClips overwrites after an hour, for a steady-state ~4GB, but SavedClips grows every time the user, or Sentry, saves a set of clips; about 857 to 950 MB per save. In my particular usage pattern over the last couple of days, that's 4 to 6 captures per day, or about 21 days to fill 128GB.

I'm going through the steps to finalize the setup. I'm going to have TeslaCam have exclusive use of this drive with the music partition in a separate partition altogether. I bought a USB splitter to power the phone dock with just power and connect the data end to the Verbatim so hopefully this will all work.

The only way I now connect is to turn on WiFi in the verbatim, and then connect with my Android phone to the Verbatim network and then browse 10.10.10.254. How did you manage to get the Verbatim Drive to attach to your local network?

 

[sTv0]

This is what I bought with the Verbatim and it works perfectly.
Anker Ultra Slim 4-Port USB 3.0... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014OS45OK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I bought the same Anker unit but for a different reason, and it works perfectly. After the 2019.8.4 update, the driver side of the Qi charger (Taptes) stopped working. It was plugged-in directly. Now, it first goes through the Anker and voilà, working again!

 

[lairdb]

The only way I now connect is to turn on WiFi in the verbatim, and then connect with my Android phone to the Verbatim network and then browse 10.10.10.254. How did you manage to get the Verbatim Drive to attach to your local network?

I found a manual, such as it is, here. Check pp9-10 for discussion of bridging to an internet-attached network. The document is framed in terms of connecting the Verbatim so that your phone/tablet can reach through the Verbatim to the internet -- but the Verbatim also offers the SMB share on the connected network once it attaches.

 

[DCEV]

I managed to get things working! I can connect with the Chrome browser watch available videos and on my Note 8, I can use ES File Explorer Pro not just to watch the videos but also to delete files and folders and download files to my phone.

Overall a great solution until someone figures out USB and wireless access at the same time.

Now I'm working on hiding all the cables and cords between the two USB drives for TeslaCam and USB Audio along with the cord for the USB phone dock.

 

[steve in socal]

Very cool progress

 

[israndy]

I would think if Elon says we are going to be able to play video on our center display, the first video we should be able to play is that on our USB sticks. That way we can clear out Sentry Mode videos and add a copy of Star Wars to enjoy while charging for 5 minutes at a v3 SC

-Randy

 

[Watts_Up]

Using Verbatine MediaShare is certainly a good solution that I'm going to install too.

In fact, I am currently using an SSD Verbatine MediaShare at home to backup and to share wirelessly
large video files between my phones and laptops, while still be able to access the Internet.

I managed to get things working! I can connect with the Chrome browser watch available videos and on my Note 8,
I can use ES File Explorer Pro not just to watch the videos but also to delete files and folders and download files to my phone.

Overall a great solution until someone figures out USB and wireless access at the same time.

Now I'm working on hiding all the cables and cords between the two USB drives for TeslaCam
and USB Audio along with the cord for the USB phone dock.

Since you are using a Galaxy Note 8, I have two questions:

- 1) How do you charge your Note 8 in your Tesla Model 3?

I have a Note 8 Smartphone, but may be because I use a bumper case the phone doesn't fit vertically
inside the original Model 3 charger with an USB plug.
Also I found that the Note 8 is too large for putting two phones next to each other to be charged.

So finally I get the Jeda wireless charger and I put my phone horizontally for wireless charging.
It is very easy and very convenient to put the phone this way, I am also able to close the door on top ot it.

- 2) Are you able to connect your Note 8 using Bluetooth?

I don't have problem with the proximity bluetooth to open the door but when I try to connect the phone to the central display,
my phone get recognised but immediately get disconnected?

However, sometime I have been able to received some phone calls. In this case, the car was sending me a pop up message
on the central display and I was able to listen suing the car speakers.

I had a Tesla Ranger who looked at this problem but was not either able to make it working.
And recommended to get a new software update, but not recent updates fixed the problem.

 

[DCEV]

Using Verbatine MediaShare is certainly a good solution that I'm going to install too.

In fact, I am currently using an SSD Verbatine MediaShare at home to backup and to share wirelessly
large video files between my phones and laptops, while still be able to access the Internet.



Since you are using a Galaxy Note 8, I have two questions:

- 1) How do you charge your Note 8 in your Tesla Model 3?

I have a Note 8 Smartphone, but may be because I use a bumper case the phone doesn't fit vertically
inside the original Model 3 charger with an USB plug.
Also I found that the Note 8 is too large for putting two phones next to each other to be charged.

So finally I get the Jeda wireless charger and I put my phone horizontally for wireless charging.
It is very easy and very convenient to put the phone this way, I am also able to close the door on top ot it.

- 2) Are you able to connect your Note 8 using Bluetooth?

I don't have problem with the proximity bluetooth to open the door but when I try to connect the phone to the central display,
my phone get recognised but immediately get disconnected?

However, sometime I have been able to received some phone calls. In this case, the car was sending me a pop up message
on the central display and I was able to listen suing the car speakers.

I had a Tesla Ranger who looked at this problem but was not either able to make it working.
And recommended to get a new software update, but not recent updates fixed the problem.

I didn't want to install the Verbatim App if I didn't absolutely need to as I want to install as few apps as possible. Thankfully after I enable WIFI, I can connect with my Note 8 and then just use ES File Explorer Pro to manage and view all files, as well as transfer any files I need to my phone. This actually works really well.

I charge my Note 8 using the center console dock for the Mode S. Works really well but I wish the phone was positioned a bit ahead so I can see better but this works.

The Model S connects to my Note 8 via Bluetooth very well. The car can often communicate with my phone when the phone is inside the house and the car is in the garage!

 

[Watts_Up]

I didn't want to install the Verbatim App if I didn't absolutely need to as I want to install as few apps as possible. Thankfully after I enable WIFI, I can connect with my Note 8 and then just use ES File Explorer Pro to manage and view all files, as well as transfer any files I need to my phone. This actually works really well.

Thank you for following up. By the way I installed the ES File Explorer Pro, it's an excellent file manager.

I charge my Note 8 using the center console dock for the Mode S. Works really well but I wish the phone was positioned a bit ahead so I can see better but this works.

The Model S connects to my Note 8 via Bluetooth very well. The car can often communicate with my phone when the phone is inside the house and the car is in the garage!

I didn't noticed you have a TMS P100DL (Lucky you...)

I was making reference to somme connectivities issues between Samsung and various cars like the Model 3 and the Prius

- Tesla couldn't solve a Model 3 owners’ Bluetooth problem after 7 months. So it blamed Samsung phones.

- us.community.Samsung.com - Issue with bluetooth car radio and ringing

 

[Palomino2]

I managed to get things working! I can connect with the Chrome browser watch available videos and on my Note 8, I can use ES File Explorer Pro not just to watch the videos but also to delete files and folders and download files to my phone.

Overall a great solution until someone figures out USB and wireless access at the same time.

Now I'm working on hiding all the cables and cords between the two USB drives for TeslaCam and USB Audio along with the cord for the USB phone dock.

Now if I could only find one. I checked Amazon and they only had one non-Amazon seller. They wanted $57+$33.51 shipping! Maybe this product has been discontinued?
Anyone else find where to buy one at a reasonable price?

 

[C141medic]

Now if I could only find one. I checked Amazon and they only had one non-Amazon seller. They wanted $57+$33.51 shipping! Maybe this product has been discontinued?
Anyone else find where to buy one at a reasonable price?

This one May be a reasonable alternative. I know it’s a little higher in price but looks like the functionality is similar to the verbatim.
SSK Portable Wireless Hard Drive Smart Storage 1TB Personal Cloud Storage 2.4GHz WiFi External Hard Drives, with Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot, Support Remote Access https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G42JRTW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_LvIWCbE660FWZ

 

[brianman]

Something just came to mind...

For folks with (ideally inexpensive) Android phones, if your phone is connected to USB and Wifi at the same time can the connected computer write to the phone's storage for file A while another device read/copies file B from the phone's storage?

 

[DCEV]

Something just came to mind...

For folks with (ideally inexpensive) Android phones, if your phone is connected to USB and Wifi at the same time can the connected computer write to the phone's storage for file A while another device read/copies file B from the phone's storage?

I think the issue here though is that the car would want to mount it as a FAT32 partition, so you'd need FAT32 mounting emulation and for the WIFI stuff happen in the background...

 

[ChrisPDX]

For those that have a Verbatim and a Raspberry Pi (or other Linux box), I created a script to automatically pull the files. Basically the script pings for the Verbatim IP address every 5 minutes (which I've configured as a static IP). If it pings back, it starts the process. The Sentry videos are moved off first (my NAS is also mounted to my Pi server). Then it adds any new music (I keep a folder of music on my NAS that matches what I want on the car). Finally it goes ahead and moves off any regular Dashcam footage as well (this is low priority so it does it last in case the Verbatim loses power and goes offline) before sleeping for 10 hours. It skips Dashcam footage that's under 10Meg as I figure it's probably corrupt and not worth the effort.

I was hoping to use rsync to copy the music so that way I could also delete songs I no longer want on the drive, but for some reason it errors out with permission issues. So I just do a copy instead (still goes quick as it skips files already there). There is one issue where if it doesn't do a complete move of a Sentry folder for whatever reason, it won't ever finish it. That will require a manual copy should the script not be able to finish moving a whole saved event.

I'm still testing but overall it seems to work. I get home after using Sentry and flip the switch. Within 5 minutes my Raspberry Pi moves the footage over. The next morning when I get back into the car, I flip the switch back and the drive has plenty of room again. I then have the Pi run other scripts to purge out the old footage from the NAS after a few months.

#!/bin/bash
# Checks for presence of Tesla Verbatim and starts file transfers
while true; do
#Ping Verbatim
ping 192.168.1.10 -c 1 -W 5 > /home/pi/devicelist
status=$(grep -i -c '1 received' /home/pi/devicelist)
if [ $status = "1" ]; then
#Verbatim found. Mount video share and start moving saved video files.
mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/SDCard_Volume1/ /home/pi/verbatim -o user=Admin,password=""
mv -v /home/pi/verbatim/TeslaCam/SavedClips/* /home/pi/nss/cam/Tesla/Saved/
umount /home/pi/verbatim
#Mount Music and Sync.
mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/SDCard_Volume2/ /home/pi/verbatim -o user=Admin,password=""
cp -nv /home/pi/nss/CarMP3/Tesla/* /home/pi/verbatim/Music/
umount /home/pi/verbatim
#Mount video share and move recent (files over 10Meg).
mount -t cifs //192.168.1.10/SDCard_Volume1/ /home/pi/verbatim -o user=Admin,password=""
find /home/pi/verbatim/TeslaCam/RecentClips/* -type f -size +10M -exec mv {} /home/pi/nss/cam/Tesla/Recent/ \;
umount /home/pi/verbatim
#Transfer complete. Sleep for 10 hours
sleep 36000
else
#Verbatim not detected. Sleep 5 minutes and check again.
sleep 300
fi
done

 

[C141medic]

my NAS is also mounted to my Pi server

I have the verbatim and the Pi Zero w. I’d like to just use the Pi rather than the Verbatim (if I can figure out how to correctly configure the Pi). How did you mount the Pi to your NAS? I have a Synology DS 218+ and not sure how to run scripts. Can you also do this with the Verbatim? Just not sure how to do it. Would appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks.

 

[darth_vad3r]

[...]Sandisk Connect 64GB wireless USB stick. When you want to use it you simply press the power button and when the car turns off and drops the USB port the stick has a battery and connects to your home WiFi and allows you to look at what's on it from the comfort of your home. At the same time, it creates its own WiFi for when you are away. BUT when you get back in your car and the USB port powers up, it immediately re-connects, no issues w/ forgetting to flip it back to USB mode. No missed DashCam footage.

I'm wondering if the behavour of the USB ports remaining powered on while the car is 'off' has changed at all in more recent Tesla firmware updates? Have you noticed in 12.x?

I could have sworn that after I left (forgot) my phone plugged that it continued to charge for a couple hours. I think this was with 8.5 but maybe 12.x.

Separately I'm wondering if the 12V outlet has changed behaviours as well ... someone told me in person (months ago) that theirs shut off when the car was off, but so far I've confirmed (only in a very very short 1-minute test) that mine does not. Next I will test it longer of course.

How long roughly do you have to wait for the USB to power off (or did you have to, if the behaviour has changed)?

 

[darth_vad3r]

Some of us don't have phones with USB 2 ports.

Huh, looks like there is a solution for this for people with micro usb on their phone:
"micro-USB connector on one end, and a USB 3.0 connector on the other"

Nifty.

Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0 | SanDisk

Oh ha, look at that, there are dual lightning/usb connector ones available too. Hmm.
iXpand Flash Drive for iPhone and iPad | SanDisk
64GB Store ‘n’ Go Dual USB 3.0 Flash Drive for Apple Lightning Devices - Graphite: Everyday USB Drives - USB Drives | Verbatim


These might be interesting low-tech options for people who just want an easy way to unplug the drive from the car and plug it into their mobile device to take a look at the videos.

I still think I'd personally prefer a wifi solution to transfer videos to my home network.

 

[israndy]

I'm wondering if the behavour of the USB ports remaining powered on while the car is 'off' has changed at all in more recent Tesla firmware updates?

I just started to play with this as I have lost both my dash cameras. One no longer reacts when it's plugged in, so the jack got wrenched. The other kept turning off saying "camera full". That's when I noticed that if I watched it after getting out of the car it was still going. So I traded it for a $29 WiFi camera from Wyze that fit the same mount and it's cool! Only takes an additional mile of range overnight to run it. Tracks the goings on around my car at home, uploading them to my phone. And with an SD card records while I am out and about and I can check the footage when I get home from my phone. I also like the way it pans to track the motion going on outside the car. If they don't notice the flashing headlights or the HAL 9000 eye, hopefully, they will see the camera tracking them.

I have left it streaming to my phone for more than an hour in the driveway with Sentry Mode off, so I think at least the back USBs are running all the time now. But I have yet to hook up a light as a test, nor have I tested the power plug, but it would be nice if we could leave our car fridge running all the time during days out or road trips.

-Randy

 

[darth_vad3r]

I have left it streaming to my phone for more than an hour in the driveway with Sentry Mode off, so I think at least the back USBs are running all the time now. But I have yet to hook up a light as a test, nor have I tested the power plug, but it would be nice if we could leave our car fridge running all the time during days out or road trips.

That’s exactly the use case I was thinking of (cooler plugged into 12V) and was being discussed a bit here:

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/how-and-when-does-the-12v-battery-get-charged.152958/

I finally remembered to start a longer-than-just-1-minute test of this when I parked at home earlier, so in an hour or so (if I remember not to unlock the car first) I’ll know if the 12V stays powered while the car is off for longer durations.

Methodology:
I can see the blue LED of a power adapter plugged into the 12V outlet from outside the car. I turned Sentry off. I plan to approach the car without a key so as not to inadvertently wake anything with Bluetooth and check if the led is still on. Then I plan to go back inside and check the app to make sure it’s asleep. I don’t have TeslaFi, but will just make sure the app says “Waking up”.

Of course I might just forget and drive off to wherever I need to go and have to repeat the test again

I was planning to report the results back on that other thread.

 

[darth_vad3r]

Just posted test results here:
How and when does the 12v battery get charged?

12V outlet seemed to stay on for the entirety of the 1h12m parked with Sentry off, but Cabin Overheat Protection on.